Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Konterr Brilliant and touching

KineticSeoul I read some of the reviews for this film and I agree, this is a pretty depressing and yet engaging movie but the audience will be left wanting more when the credits starts rolling and not because the movie is mind blowing or anything. And Son Rae Kim was just perfect for this role, she is a very good actress for her age and is looking forward for her to make it in the movie business. The other children in the movie did a fine job as well. But I am just curious why a big time actor such as Kyung-gu Sol played a very small part as Jinhee's father, when anyone else could have done the role since it doesn't even show his face. This is the first movie I saw about children in the Korean orphanage, and was well worth the time. It was sad watching the children in the movie struggling and doing there best to get adopted and to know the problem of many children ending up in the orphanages still goes on today.7.8/10

peter07 ...yet I was left wanting for more. I didn't get to know much about Jinhee, why she was there, what happened to her family, and the like. Yet in real life, as this movie was based on, we often don't get the answers we seek or that would make sense of our situation. One reviewer said it wasn't a tearjerker but a heart tugger, and I tend to agree. The roles were beautifully played the child cast and a few cameos were nice by two of Korea's leading male actors who played Jinhee's father and a sympathetic doctor.The sad thing is, Koreans still dump unwanted children into orphanages to this day, a lot of whom are the product of out-of-wedlock relationships. It's horrible to have the children suffer for the mistakes of adults.

Kristine Giluce Life can appear very strange, when no-one is there to explain it. Especially when you're a child and you have plenty of questions. This is a big question which started the day when a father, with no explanations left his daughter at an orphanage. A Brand New Life takes its spectator to childhood - to a time when we asked many things and perhaps got no answers and no explanations why things happen exactly this way. Film is through and through seen from the eyes of a child, but brought to it's richness with the help of a wonderful script and skillful camera, allowing its spectator to put aside for a while his adult point of view and just observe, and try to understand. This is the story of a little girl, Jinhee, played marvelously by Mademoiselle Sae Ron Kim. She poses questions, but there never comes an honest answer why her life has turned out like this.A Brand New Life achieves a perfect harmony, one element underlines the other one. The long takes allow the spectator to grasp, how long the time in orphanage seemed for Jinhee, the relatively small amounts of dialogs depicts the introvert child, whose emotions break out through some furious actions. The gray tone palette which en-tours the setting of the orphanage shows very understandable the sadness of this place.Film touches not only an auto-biographical story, but the sad truth of life – we all know that there are thousands of places like this around the world. And there are thousands of children who, perhaps, have mastered this tragicomic show for the visitors, the potential new families.In conclusion I'd like to say that this is a very daring film, knowing that this was a true story and a true childhood, perhaps lived through second by second as we see it on the screen. I must say that it's a brave choice to put a story like this on the screen. But its greatest value is the absence of a pathos and absence of a depiction the children as a victims of the cruelty of life. A Brand New Life is hope and search for the answers through and through it.

Brianko This movie is very beautiful to watch. I saw it at the Toronto International Film Festival '09 at the Isabel Bader theatre. Though heartbreaking, I found myself wanting to make every small moment last, as if holding onto the only remaining photo of a person lost.The acting from everybody, including all the small children, was very good and believable. They seemed honest and innocent, including the adult supporting characters. Some very impactful moments from secondary characters with small but important parts. They said things without having to actually say anything at all. I left feeling like the movie was neither too long or too short, so I found the timing perfect.When would this be released in Canada? I would love to view it again.